Circles of Light and Fire
by sams1ra
Summary: The guys investigate a series of disappearances and some strange lights. It seems like an easy enough job, doesn't it? The action is starting chapter 2 is up!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural or any of the characters (except for Claudia, but without the other characters, that really doesn't matter, now does it?).

A/N: I know I'm in the middle of another story, but I'm honestly stuck with that one, so until I have any idea where I'm going with it, I'm gonna work on this one. This fic picks up a little while after my last one, 'Foresight', so you should read the earlier stories first, but it could also be a stand-alone. Trying to build up Claudia's character here a little, so that the next story would be really creepy. To sum up what you need to know from before; Sam and Dean were joined by another hunter, a woman named Claudia. Sam really likes her. Dean's… slowly getting used to the idea. Hope you enjoy it!

CIRCLES OF LIGHT AND FIRE

PART 1

"Hi, pretty-boy, where're _my_ fries?" Claudia demanded as Dean put all their food down on the table. He smirked at her.

"I didn't get you any. And it's handsome, not pretty." Dean corrected her. She gave him an irritated look.

"Oh, don't fool yourself, you're plenty pretty." She spat at him, taking his own fries from him.

"Hi!" Dean cried, making a grab for the fries, but she turned her back to him, facing Sam once more. "You shouldn't have fries anyway. Aren't you supposed to be watching your weight or something?" Dean snapped at her. Truth was he simply forgot she had asked for fries, but everyone said engaging in sports was healthy, and taking shots at Claudia has already become his favorite sport.

"You're way fatter than I am." She gave him an angry glare. "I'd start watching those love-handles if I were you." She smirked at him. He made a face at her.

"I don't have any love-handles!" he said, "This is all pure muscle, sweetheart. And besides, I'm way taller than you, shortie."

"Ouch, that hurt." She said mockingly, pretending to take one to the chest, and then stuffed a French fry in her mouth, enjoying it way too much, and making Dean lose his concentration for a moment. By the time the blood began its way back to his brain, Claudia was already back to her conversation with Sam. Dean had to admit, as annoying as that woman was, Sam was far less whiny when he was with her. And he smiled a hell of a lot more. So Dean just sulked at her and tried to get his fries back without her noticing. He frowned, retrieved his hand quickly, shaking it and rubbing the place where she'd slapped it. _Good thing I was using her credit card to buy the damned thing in the first place_, Dean thought.

He opened the newspaper, reading the obituaries first, looking for their next gig, but came up empty. He caught a few minutes of Sam and Claudia's conversation and snorted. They were talking enthusiastically about a book. _What geeks_, he thought, rolling his eyes. And then his cell phone rang. Sam looked questioningly at Dean as he pulled the phone out of his pocket.

"Text message." Dean said, reading it.

"From dad?" Sam asked.

"Looks like." Dean answered. "Coordinates." He added a moment later.

* * *

"Here's your key." Dean told Claudia, giving her the key to the motel room he got for her. He had specifically asked for two rooms as farther away from each other as possible. The room he shared with Sam was right at the front. Claudia's, on the other hand, was at the back. On the second floor. "You should get your stuff out of the car. Maybe your boyfriend here could carry them for you." Dean smirked, patting Sam on the back. 

"You are such a baby." She said, slapping him on the back of his head when she finally realized where her room was.

"Thanks, I always knew you thought I was cute." Dean grinned, and quickly ducked before she had the chance to slap him again. He wasn't so amused the next morning, when he found out someone had egged his car.

"Oh, would you look at that." Claudia said, walking right past him. "Some kid egged your car." She noted dryly, trying to hide her grin. Dean narrowed his eyes, trying to think of the slowest way to kill her. Probably tie her up, drag her behind the car for a while. That would be sweet. "Hi, Sam, want some breakfast? I think they're serving scrambled _eggs_ and bacon." Claudia added as she kept on walking. Dean shot daggers at her with his look. Sam raised his hands, giving him a look that pleaded Dean to let it go as he followed Claudia to the diner across the street. Dean cursed; loudly, elaborately, and at great length, as he took his jacket off and started to clean his baby up. They still had another day's worth of driving ahead of them before they reached the coordinates his dad had sent him, and Dean doubted Claudia would survive that long. No one hurt his baby and got away with it.

* * *

"Oh, come on, Sam!" 

"No!" Sam said, pushing him out of the room. "I'm tired of always getting caught in the middle between you two!" he snapped at Dean.

"Fine! So let's just dump her somewhere where no one would ever find her and get on with our lives." Dean said quickly. Sam gave him an angry glare.

"You are going to talk to her, and you're not coming back in this room until you two settle this thing!" he said authoritatively.

"Oh, come on! Why won't you make me do something less painful? You know, like being skinned alive?" Dean demanded. Sam glowered at him.

"Go talk to her!" he insisted. "And be nice, or you're spending the night in the car!"

"But I don't want to!" Dean insisted. Sam crossed his hands over his chest. "Oh, man! Well, if I'm sleeping in the car tonight, you mind giving me my stuff back?"

"Talk to her!" Sam cried, slamming the door in Dean's face before he had the time to answer.

"Hi, Sam, you mind at least to give me my jacket? It's going to be a cold night. And besides, my car keys are in there." Dean called out from outside the door. Sam opened the door a second later, throwing the jacket at Dean and slamming the door in his face again. Oh, it was definitely going to be a cold night. It would take hell freezing over before Dean would actually talk to Claudia. But his little brother could be just as annoying when he really had his heart into it. With a long sigh, Dean reluctantly knocked on Claudia's door.

* * *

Dean sat in the car, his hands holding the steering wheel slightly as he stared out at nothing in particular. He had been sitting there for quite a while, but he had no idea how long it was. He was still trying to figure out what the hell happened last night. He couldn't, for the life of him, figure it out. Dean jumped when the Impala door opened and Sam sat down in the passenger seat. Sam laughed at his reaction. 

"Man! Don't do that!" Dean said, punching Sam in the shoulder.

"What are you doing out here in the car?" Sam asked.

"I… I just… I was going to get some coffee." He stuttered.

"Uh huh." Sam smiled.

"What? Dude, I just woke up and I needed some coffee. Something wrong with that?" Dean demanded. Sam grinned.

"No, nothing wrong with that." He said, "It's just that I've been up since six thirty, and I didn't see you leaving." He noted. _Six thirty? What the hell?_ Dean looked at his watch. It was twenty past seven in the morning. "You want to try that again?" Sam smiled in satisfaction as he looked at Dean.

"Dude, none of your business." Dean said quickly.

"I also noticed you didn't come back to the room last night." Sam noted.

"Well, yeah. You see, I went to this bar and there was this blonde," he made a little noise, "Ooh, Sammy, she was smoking hot!"

"Uh huh." Sam said again, obviously not buying into Dean's lie. "You were out here talking to her all night, weren't you?" Sam asked knowingly.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Dean said quickly, looking away from Sam, and Sam laughed.

"Yeah, I recognize that look. She certainly has a way, doesn't she?" he asked, folding his hands behind his back and stretching in his seat. "I told you all you needed to do was talk to her."

Dean looked away from Sam, leaning back in his seat. _It started normal_, he thought. Or, at least, it started like he had expected it.

* * *

"You mind telling that boyfriend of yours you and I made up so he'll get off my back and I can get some sleep?" Dean snapped at Claudia as she opened her door. And then she slammed the door in his face. See, that was typical. That was pretty much what he had expected would happen. Dean tried going back to his room, but Sam wouldn't let him in, that little bastard. Really annoyed, Dean knocked on Claudia's door again and offered an awkward apology. She looked irritably at him for a second, but then seemed to lower her guard a little. Dean suggested they went for a ride, figuring this way he could just turn up the volume and drop her off somewhere and be rid of her once and for all. 

And then, somehow, it was three in the morning, and she said she couldn't keep her eyes open anymore, so she left.

Dean shook his head, still trying to figure out how the hell she made him tell her things an army of well trained torturers would never have gotten out of him. She was just so damn… disarming! She knew exactly when to push, and exactly when to let go, something Sam still needed to master.

They sat there in silence for almost half an hour at some point, with the radio in the background, and it wasn't even awkward. It was… _nice_. Dean couldn't believe he would ever use the word _nice_ in connection to Claudia. Except maybe _nice to see her gone_, or possibly, _nice ass_.

But the things he told her… He swore to himself he'd never tell anyone, and made good on his promise for the better part of 27 years, so why now? And why _her_? There must be something supernatural about that woman. No way he would have just told her those things about himself without some kind of supernatural intervention. No freaking way.

But at least he finally got to know a little more about her, too. Like that she was a foster kid. Strange, he never thought of her as a foster kid. Sam had said she was a third generation hunter. For some reason, Dean had always imagined Christmas and Thanks-Giving gatherings where everyone shared their favorite hunting stories and everyone would laugh. But her mother had died the day Claudia had been born, and she was less than willing to talk about her dad, save to say she wished it was him who died, and not her mom. She had been on her own since she was sixteen, got herself emancipated, with Jin's help. Dean could have sworn, with the way she kept talking about her boss, that there must have been some sort of office romance there, but she definitely seemed into Sam now.

And the job thing. He finally figured it out, too. It was a large, Washington based, international private investigation corporation, with a nice little sub-division no one ever talked about. The kind that investigated and took care of things no one knew about, things no one wanted to know about. Things that went bump in the night. She barely got paid, just enough to pay her expenses; the motels, the food and some of the traveling. They supplied her with the ammo, though it was obvious her weapon of choice was that knife of hers. So, the pay was pretty much crap, but there were the health benefits. That part sounded sweet.

* * *

Sam got out of the car slowly, trying not to spill any of the orange juice he was trying to balance over the takeout breakfast. Dean followed him out of the car, and Sam grinned at the dumbfounded look still on Dean's face. He knew how his brother felt. The first time he had talked, really talked, with Claudia, he had felt the same. It was like she could read his mind, without the actual creepiness of reading his mind. She just… understood. He had never met anyone like that before, at least, no one remotely close to his age, or remotely close to being a female. And she wasn't taking any crap from Dean, that sure would be enough to get his brother thinking there was some supernatural influence around. Sam smiled to himself. 

"So, I'm going over to Claudia's." he said, "We should take off after breakfast, get to the bottom of all those disappearances before anyone else goes missing." Sam said.

"Huh?" Dean stared at him, obviously not hearing a word Sam had said. Sam rolled his eyes.

"Get some coffee!" Sam laughed and Dean glowered at him. He nearly dropped the cup of orange juice tripping over the small step just outside Claudia's door and cursed, steadying the cup. Glimpsing back to make sure his brother wasn't going to interfere, Sam knocked on the door. Claudia opened it a moment later. She seemed a little tired. Her hair was wet, dripping over her shirt.

"Hi, Sam. Wanna come in?" she invited him, and he walked in the room.

"I come bearing gifts." Sam said, putting the food on the tiny table where she had her laptop. Claudia quickly cleared the computer away.

"My favorite kind of man." She said, smiling at him. "You got coffee?"

"Orange juice." Sam said, and Claudia's face brightened up.

"My savior!" she kissed his cheek, taking the juice from him. He found it a little funny she preferred orange juice to caffeine, but hey, everyone had their own quirks, right? "Why are you so cheerful this early in the morning?" Claudia asked, eying Sam, and he couldn't help but grin again.

"You finally made friends with Dean." He said, handing her a bagel. She narrowed her eyes, scowling.

"Who told you that?" she said in mock anger, taking the bagel from him, "You know, those kind of vicious rumors are just what a girl can't afford if she's trying to keep her reputation." She added, taking a sip from her juice. Sam's smile widened as he shook his head. Claudia eyed him. "You seem happy." She noted.

"I am." Sam said.

"Good." She smiled at him, and he could feel his heart fluttering. God, he hasn't felt that way since… No, he didn't want to think about that. He wasn't going to think about that. He neared Claudia. "You're up to something." She said, studying him.

"You're good." Sam said.

"Oh, no baby, you're good. I'm awesome!" she boasted, smirking, and Sam just couldn't help it anymore. He leaned over and kissed her.

_Nothing._ Claudia thought, _Damn! After all this time, nothing!_ She watched the smile creeping onto Sam's lips. He was just so damn cute. He kissed her again and she wrapped her arms around him, allowing him to pull her up a little. _Nope._ _Still nothing!_ She thought, _double damn!_

Sam put her down, looking into her eyes, and she smiled at him, suddenly feeling very aware of the door and how nicely unlocked it was. Her first instinct was to bolt. Hell, she stayed with those two for this long just because she thought there might be something there. Obviously, there wasn't, because this truly cute guy just kissed her, twice, after all this time, and she didn't feel a thing. Time to hit the road. Only, she didn't really want to, and that was… weird. She liked him. She _really_ liked him. Only, she wasn't interested in him anymore. It was all too damn confusing, and it was too early. She barely slept last night. That must be it. She wasn't thinking straight. She was tired, and she wasn't thinking straight. So instead of just standing there, feeling like a complete moron, she sat down on the bed.

"So, you found anything about those missing people?"

"A couple of things," Sam said, sitting down next to her. And then he kissed her again.

"We should check it out." Claudia said when he backed away.

"Probably." Sam said, taking her hand in his. "Wanna have breakfast first?" Claudia's stomach answered for her, and Sam grinned.

A/N: Okay, so not much action in this one, but hey, did it make you smile? The action and angst is still to come, don't worry, my twisted mind still has a few tricks in its dark corners… Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

Dean pulled over by the small motel, getting out of the Impala and stretching his cramped muscles. That was one long ride, and not necessarily mileage-wise. He was rather relieved that Claudia didn't mention anything they'd talked about the previous night. Dean was a little worried about possible chick-flick moments, but it seemed like he had nothing to worry about. Claudia was as painful to his rear end as ever. In fact, he had spent the last thirty miles fanaticizing about strangling her. How his brother could possibly think it was a good thing having her around, he had no idea. And that was another thing, her whole 'last night never happened' thing. That wasn't a chick thing to do. No, chicks would keep talking and talking about feelings and stuff. She only got on his nerves, and not in a caring-sharing kind of way. There was definitely something wrong with her. Possession was his first guess, but he assumed schizophrenia could be another way to explain it.

Dean got them all rooms and then left to the nearest bar, to 'get some more information about the missing people'; you know, hustle some pool, get a few drinks, and maybe even hook up with a hot chick. He left the research to the geek duo. He rolled his eyes when he got back to the motel room long past midnight to see Claudia and Sam sitting on one of the beds, with the computer in Claudia's lap and Sam's head in a book. _God, what geeks_! He had given them enough time to do other things, but leave it to Sam not to get the hint.

"So, you two come up with anything interesting?" Dean asked, taking his jacket off and tossing it carelessly over the other bed.

"Yeah," Sam said, putting the book down and glancing at Claudia. "It looks like the nine people that disappeared weren't the first ones to go missing in those marshes. There have been stories of people disappearing there dating back to the late eighteen hundreds. That's as far back as we got." He said, waiting for a conformational nod from Claudia.

"Oh, yeah?" Dean asked, interested.

"Yeah." Sam answered. "Every seven years or so."

"They actually have this local legend about it." Claudia cut in and Dean looked at her. "I had some laundry to do," she explained, "so while I was there, I started talking to this cute guy…" she trailed off for a second and Dean raised a brow. Claudia cleared her throat. "Anyway, there's this local legend about this huge crocodile eating people whole. But it sounds like crap to me."

"Oh, yeah? Why's that?" Dean asked.

"Doesn't fit." Sam answered instead. "There are countless eye witness accounts that swear they saw lights flying around in those marshes. Heard whispers and stuff. I'm thinking more of phantom lights, maybe a haunting or something." Sam said and Claudia nodded her agreement.

"All right. But what about the crocodile stuff? Stories like that, they have to come from somewhere. They always do." Dean said.

"Yeah, well, this is a swamp." Claudia shrugged. "There are crocs around. I just don't think a giant crocodile would swallow people whole for a few hundred years without any actual sightings."

"We should check it out." Sam said, looking up at Dean.

"Great." Dean said sarcastically, scratching the back of his neck. "That should be fun."

* * *

Early the next morning, the three of them drove to the national reserve where all the people went missing. They parked in the car park and looked around them. The place was rather tourist friendly, with a gift shop, an information booth and a small picnic area. There was even a camping site somewhere in there. 

"Who the hell would want to camp here?" Claudia muttered, swatting a pesky mosquito, one of the many around them.

"We should check that gift shop, see if they could tell us anything about the people that went missing." Sam suggested, and he and Dean headed off to the gift shop as Claudia headed for the information booth. A small bell jingled as the brothers got in the store. They barely had time to look around when a pudgy woman with a large smile walked over to them.

"Hello, how can I help you, boys?" she asked. "You're not planning on going camping out here, are you?" she asked, noticing the boys standing near the sleeping bags isle. Dean glanced at Sam.

"Actually, we were." He said. "Why, is there a reason we shouldn't?" he asked, studying her carefully.

"You boys are not from around here, are you?" she asked, eying them.

"No, ma'am." Sam answered. "We're on a road trip, and we thought this looks like a nice place…"

"Oh it is." She said quickly. "It's lovely. You know, we usually have so many visitors this time of year. The marshes are beautiful." She said with a bright smile. "I grew up near here, I used to go play in there all the time."

"Then what's wrong with us going camping?" Dean asked.

"Oh, well… It's just… There's been a few incidents lately. People going missing, this type of thing. Now, don't get me wrong, it's pretty safe here during the day, it's just that the rangers prefer it if no one went camping there for a while." She said, a smile still on her face. Dean gave Sam another glance.

"People going missing?" he asked, trying his luck.

"Well, you know," the woman shrugged, "Some people just can't seem to be able to keep to the trail. This is a swamp, you know. There are wild animals in the area." She said matter-of-factly.

* * *

Sam and Dean got out of the gift shop and headed for the car, but Claudia wasn't there yet. Looking around, they found her at the picnic area, talking to a family that just started unpacking their food. They seemed young; the father taking another cooler out of the car, a couple of kids running around while them mother talked to Claudia, her eyes on her kids. Sam and Dean decided to keep their distance, catching Claudia's attention and signaling to her that they were waiting for her by the car. She joined them not ten minutes later. 

"Okay, I changed my mind." She said, "Looks like a nice place. Except for these damn flies!" she shooed another pesky fly. "You guys find anything?"

"They don't want anyone camping here at night." Sam said before Dean had a chance to speak. "The woman from the gift shop says this place is usually very busy this time of year."

"Yeah, yeah." Dean said, opening the trunk and packing a couple of guns, a knife, his EMF meter and a few more supplies into a duffle. "Less chatting, more walking. I want to check this place out while we still have daylight. Get a feel of what we're dealing with."

The three of them started down the trail leading in the swamp. It seemed fairly wide and clean, and very well marked. There were warning signs wherever the path went through anything remotely dangerous.

About a mile and a half up the road the three reached a small wooden cabin. Exchanging glances, they decided to get in, seeing as the door was open. It seemed like a small ranger station. There was a miniature model of the reserve, pictures of plants and wildlife, and even a stuffed crocodile, almost six foot long. Dean let out a low whistle at the sight of the stuffed animal. Not long after that, a middle-aged ranger walked in, looking a little surprised to see them all, but smiling all the same.

"Hi there," the ranger said, "can I help you with anything?" Sam and Dean exchanged glances, and Dean took a step forward.

"I bet you can, ranger… Forest." Dean said, reading the ranger's name tag and cocking a brow. "See, it's our first time in the area, and we were interested in learning a little about the place's history. You know, any horror stories we can tell around the campfire at night…"

"Well, I wouldn't recommend telling too many scary stories around the fire at night." The ranger said seriously, and Dean glanced at Sam.

"Oh, yeah? And why's that?" Dean inquired. The ranger smiled.

"In my experience, the marshmallows get a little too crispy that way." He laughed, and Dean smiled.

"So, it's okay if we went camping here tonight?" Sam asked, making sure.

"Sure, as long as you keep to the camping area. The crocks don't go there, so it's pretty safe. I wouldn't recommend getting off the main path though. This place is beautiful, but it's still a wildlife area." The ranger said. "You are required to register if you're heading out camping. Just a formality, in case something happens, we like to know who's out there." The ranger added.

"In case anything happens? You mean like those people going missing?" Dean asked, and the smile left the ranger's face for a moment.

"No need to worry yourselves about that. This place is safe. Hell, I practically live here. I'm here everyday. Has been for twenty three years. Nothing ever happened to me."

"What about those stories about the giant crocodile?" Sam asked, and the ranger laughed.

"So, what, are you one of those people?" he asked.

"Those people?" Sam asked, unsure.

"Looking for the giant crocodile. What is it now? Ten feet long? Swallows men, women and children whole?" the ranger laughed, "Oh, yeah, run if you hear a sound of a clock ticking, captain Hook." Sam glanced at Dean.

"So, there's no crocodile?" Dean asked.

"Sure there is. There're many, but they're all tagged and monitored. Old Ben here," he patted at the stuffed crocodile, "is almost seventy years old. We don't let them get this big anymore. Transfer them to a croc farm not far from here." The ranger said, "We do have the tourists to think of. Kind of bad for business if any of them got eaten." He added, laughing. "Haven't had an attack in… twelve years, I think."

"So, you don't think those people who went missing were attacked by a crocodile?" Sam asked.

"Look, not that it's any of your business, but no one's gone missing." The ranger said. "We have had a few unfortunate accidents around here lately, but they could have been avoided if people just paid attention and didn't leave the main path." The ranger said.

"But the woman in the gift store said…"

"Claris," the ranger rolled his eyes. "She's selling T-shirts with 'I survived the giant crocs' on the front." He shook his head.

"What about all the people going missing?" Dean insisted. "It was in the paper."

"Look, no one was missing. We found them all."

"You did?"

"Yes. We did." The ranger said, a little impatiently. "Would have found some of them a hell of a lot sooner if they'd bothered to register."

"What happened to them?"

"It gets really dark here at night. Probably went for a walk, wandered off the main path. They drowned. No croc attacks, no teeth marks on them, no nothing. They drowned, plain and simple. I told the police that, I told wildlife service, and I'm telling you. Don't wander off. Keep to the path and everything will be okay."

They thanked the ranger and left, following the main path a while longer. It was a little muddy, and full of mosquitoes, but all in all, it was a beautiful place. Sam and Claudia lagged behind, and Dean refused to look back, pretending he didn't hear Claudia's giggles.

Sam took Claudia's hand in his. It felt a little strange, being with her after keeping to himself for so long, grieving over Jessica, but it felt good. He liked her a lot. She was so easy to talk to, and he really loved to hear her laugh. The fact that she could make Dean squirm was just the icing on the cake. The mosquitoes must have agreed with him that she was sweet, because they seemed to feast on her, and barely bug him or Dean. He stopped when he felt something pass just outside his line of sight. He could feel it more than see it. Claudia looked questioningly at him, but he just smiled at her and kneeled, pretending to tie his shoe and motioning her to go on ahead. He waited until she did before getting up and taking a few steps back. And then he saw it again. A tiny light, flickering in the distance. Sam wrinkled his brow and took a few steps towards it, but then felt someone touching his arm.

"Hey, what are you looking at?" Claudia asked. He smiled at her.

"Nothing. There was just a nice bird or something." He said. She raised a brow, but didn't say anything. She glanced back at the path.

"Well, are you coming, or what?" she asked, pulling him along after her.

They kept walking until it got late, and then got back to the car and back to town, looking for a place to eat.

"So, what is it about you guys and vegetables?" Claudia asked, sitting next to Sam and opening her little plastic salad box. "They're not toxic, you know." She added, eyeing the double cheeseburgers the brothers were eating. "And no, the lattice and onions in those burgers don't count." She added quickly before Dean had a chance to say anything. He scowled at her, but then shrugged and took another giant bite of his burger. Claudia rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "So what do you think about the swamp?" she asked, "Still think it's a crocodile?"

"Never hurts to be careful." Dean said, swallowing. "I think we should go out there again tonight. If it is a spirit or something like that, it's likely the EMF will pick up more activity at night." He said, and Sam nodded his agreement.

"Good." Claudia said, "So I have time for a shower and a little nap." She got up, taking her salad with her. "And I've got to find a bug repellent soon. Looks like Dean only works on women." She added, and laughed at the furious glare he shot her way.

"Dude, I'll never get it." Sam said, watching Claudia leave. Dean glanced at him, a questioning look in his eyes. "How can they possibly be full eating a salad?" he muttered.

"That what you're worrying about?" Dean asked. "Man, you've got a very good life if that's what's bothering you."


End file.
